monome enclosure "kisslick" design

A low-cost 40h monome enclosure

Assembled:


Layout:


Exploded:


Parts:


Corner assembly:


Assembly steps:


Parts & tools needed list:

• The laser cut parts pictured above
  
• 6mm M3 metric bolts - 21 bolts
• 30mm M3 metric bolts - 8 bolts
• super glue or acrylic glue
• rubber feet
• screwdriver

Options:

• The four pieces of material that are laser cut can be any combination of colors from http://www.ponoko.com/make-and-sell/materials#9, however:
• faceplate must be at most 4.5mm/0.18" thick but can be thinner; note: thinner faceplate means keys will stick out more
  
• lower faceplate must be 3mm/0.12" thick
• walls must be 6mm/0.24" thick
• bottom plate can be anything but the 6mm bolts will work best with a 3mm thickness, you can buy different length bolts for different thickness materials
• Can engrave designs on faceplate and walls.

monome enclosure design v4 - "companion low profile"

A low-cost, light-diy monome enclosure, named "companion low profile".

Assembled:


Parts:


Changes from previous design:

• Uses 4.5mm faceplate, and 3mm spacers directly under the faceplate to give a 7.5mm depth so the keys stick out only 1.5mm and lay flush with the surface when depressed. Bolt length changes because of this space.
  

Parts & tools needed list:

• The laser cut parts pictured above
  
• 6mm 10mm M3 metric bolts - 17 of these
• 35mm M3 metric bolts - 8 of these
  
• 7/64" drill bit
• drill
• screwdriver
• rubber feet
  

Steps:

1. Drill 17 holes on the crosses to a depth of 3mm with a 7/64" drill bit.
2. Bolt the Grid PCB to the faceplate, bolt the Logic PCB to the bottom plate.
3. Connect ribbon cables between PCBs and test that the unit works before assembly. Connect pieces and bolt the whole enclosure together from the bottom. Apply rubber feet.
   

Options:

• The three pieces that make up the faceplate, walls, and bottom plate can be any combination of colors from http://www.ponoko.com/make-and-sell/materials#9, however walls must be 6mm/0.24" deep, faceplate must be deeper than around 5mm but no more than around 7.5m faceplate must be 4.5mm deep, bottom plate must be 3mm/0.12" deep.
• Can use countersunk 35mm bolts if you want them to be flush with the underside, length and drill depth remain be the same.
• Can engrave designs on the faces of the materials, however, this means the crosses for the drill points cannot be laser engraved on the underside, you must measure and mark the points yourself.

monome enclosure design v3 - "companion"

A low-cost, light-diy monome enclosure, second attempt named "companion".

Assembled:


Exploded:


Parts:


Steps:


Faceplate design example (ivory faceplate and bottom plate, black walls):


Faceplate design example #2:


Parts & tools needed list:

• The laser cut parts pictured above
  
• 6mm M3 metric bolts - 33 of these 17 of these
• 35mm M3 metric bolts - 8 of these
  
• 7/64" drill bit
• drill
• screwdriver
• rubber feet
  

Steps:

1. Drill 33 17 holes on the crosses to a depth of 3mm with a 7/64" drill bit.
2. Bolt the Grid PCB to the faceplate, bolt the wall-to-corner connector pieces to the wall pieces, bolt the Logic PCB to the bottom plate.
3. Connect ribbon cables between PCBs and test that the unit works before assembly. Connect pieces and bolt the whole enclosure together from the bottom. Apply rubber feet.
   

Options:

• The three pieces that make up the faceplate, walls, and bottom plate can be any combination of colors from http://www.ponoko.com/make-and-sell/materials#9, however faceplate and walls must be 6mm/0.24" deep, faceplate must be deeper than around 5mm but no more than around 7.5mm, bottom plate must be 3mm/0.12" deep.
• Can use countersunk 35mm bolts if you want them to be flush with the underside, length and drill depth remain be the same.
• Can engrave designs on the faces of the materials (faceplate raster engraved design example shown above), see materials link above for photos of what engravings look like on different acrylic materials.

monome enclosure design v2

A low-cost, light-diy monome enclosure.

Assembled:


Exploded:


Parts:


Steps (detailed below):


Parts & tools needed list:

• The laser cut parts pictured above
  
• 6mm M3 metric bolts - 33 of these
• 35mm M3 metric bolts - 8 of these
  
• 7/64" drill bit
• drill
• screwdriver
• rubber feet
  

Steps:

1. Drill 33 holes on the crosses to a depth of 3mm with a 7/64" drill bit.
2. Bolt the Grid PCB to the faceplate, bolt the wall-to-corner connector pieces to the wall pieces, bolt the Logic PCB to the bottom plate.
3. Connect ribbon cables between PCBs and test that the unit works before assembly. Connect pieces and bolt the whole enclosure together from the bottom. Apply rubber feet.
   

Options:

• The three pieces that make up the faceplate, walls, and bottom plate can be any combination of colors from http://www.ponoko.com/make-and-sell/materials#9, however faceplate and walls must be 6mm/0.24" deep, bottom plate must be 3mm/0.12" deep.
• Can use countersunk 35mm bolts if you want them to be flush with the underside, length and drill depth remain be the same.
• Can engrave designs on the faces of the materials, see materials link above for photos of what engravings look like on different acrylic materials.

putting together the monome enclosure, day 2/2

Midplate-faceplate bolted together:


Finished:

putting together the monome enclosure, day 1/2

Yippee!


Unwrapping:


The parts:


Faceplate & keys:


LEDs on:


Clamping the faceplate material to the top of the wall so that the inner wall can be glued exactly where it should be:


Side view drawing of this setup:


A wall with the inner piece glued to it:


Two walls pushed together, PVA squeezed out:


Cleaned corner:


Pushed together and made square using the midplate:


Clamping together using an elastic rope:


Drilling holes into midplate and half way through faceplate, clamped together and drilled to a limited depth:


Showing the faceplate and midplate 'sandwich':


Stain & Clear:

Google Sketchup usability problem

A Google Sketchup component is an object that is the same among all instances (basically). Flipping a component instance breaks this natural rule. For example: here this is the same component twice, one is flipped:

From one side:


From the other side:


Both instances are the same way up (note slots), and the hole is on the same side. However, the flipped component has its holes on the other side.

In real life there is no way to turn or rotate two identical objects to match the images above. This is a usability issue because the mental model in the user's mind does not match the real behavior of Sketchup. Flip should not be an option for components.


Entire discussion: http://groups.google.com/group/sketchupissues/browse_thread/thread/831e79c9d3638356

monome enclosure

Settled on a design.

Assembled:


Showing wooden walls and plastic bottom plate:


Parts, parallel projection:


Exploded:


The four pieces of material that are laser-cut and assembled to make up the enclosure:


Sent to the laser cutting service. From prior experience it should take two weeks to get to my door.

One concern is the upper outside corners. The official monome enclosure and many other products (e.g. the Apple mac mini) use a two dimensional rounded corner which is designed to prevent the user from hurting himself on a sharp point. With the limitation of laser cutting, rounded corners are hard to do.

Some possibilities:

1. The current design. Pros: inexpensive, simple, can round the corner using sandpaper, although this is a low quality solution. Cons: ouchies.
2. A flat border on top of a sanded corner. Pros: no ouchies, high quality rounded corner when looking from the top. Cons: adds the cost of another piece of material, quality differneces between the rounded corners on top and below.
3. Stack of plates. Cons: costs way too much.
4. Combination of 1 and 2. Possibly the best option. Could even have the faceplate extend over the sides instead of a border piece. Pros: no ouchies, costs about the same as 1, high quality solution. Cons: having the top extend past the side means it's easier to lift the other side when resting your hand on the edge.
5. Uses a small laser-cut insert to give an inner rounded corner to the walls. Pros: rounded corners. Cons: may show through when stained, low quality.
6. Same as 3.

Conclusion: 1 and 4 seem like the best options. Personally, I like the square edges; there's a certain appeal to the contrast between the rounded corners of the faceplate's buttons and the square corners of the enclosure. However, that's an analysis on the aesthetics and not on actual use, I will write an update when I receive and assemble the enclosure.

Other enclosures:

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/no_means_no/sets/72157610339804616/
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/machinecollective/sets/72157607206681645/
• http://docs.monome.org/doku.php?id=media:kit